156 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



by Draper ' that vivisection had begun. In fact, the 

 science of ancient Grreece had already cleared the world 

 of the fantastic images of divinities operating capriciously 

 through natural phenomena. It had shaken itself free 

 from that fruitless scrutiny *'by the internal light of the 

 mind alone," which had vainly sought to transcend expe- 

 rience, and to reach a knowledge of ultimate causes. In- 

 stead of accidental observation, it had introduced observa- 

 tion with a purpose; instruments were employed to aid 

 the senses; and scientific method was rendered in a great 

 measure complete by the union of Induction and Experi- 

 ment. 



"What, then, stopped its victorious advance ? Why was 

 the scientific intellect compelled, like an exhausted soil, to 

 lie fallow for nearly two millenniums, before it could re- 

 gather the elements necessary to its fertility and strength ? 

 Bacon has already let us know one cause; Whewell as- 

 cribes this stationary period to four causes — obscurity of 

 thought, servility, intolerance of disposition, enthusiasm 

 of temper; and he gives striking examples of each." But 

 these characteristics must have had their antecedents in 

 the circumstances of the time. Eome, and the other cities 

 of the Empire, had fallen into moral putrefaction. Chris- 

 tianity had appeared, offering the Gospel to the poor, and 

 by moderation, if not asceticism of life, practically protest- 

 ing against the profligacy of the age. The sufferings of 

 the early Christians, and the extraordinary exaltation of 

 mind which enabled them to triumph over the diabolical 

 tortures to which they were subjected, ^ must have left 



* "History of the Intellectual Development of Europe," p. 295, 



' "History of the Inductive Sciences," vol. i. 



^ Described with terrible vividness in Renan's "Antichrist," 



